March 23, 2006

23 comments:

Exactly the right answer. Apparently somebody returning from Iraq had a lot of video footage of our reconstruction efforts, and was trying to figure out how to get the MSM to run them. The President essentially suggested using the New Media, notably blogging, to get the word out - and PowerLine is already trying to track the people down and help out.

I've been reading about the 1930s and the runup to World War II, including attempts to buy peace with appeasement or containment. So many similarities to now: the confused politics, the polarization of the electorate, the hatred of "warmongers" like Churchill and worship of men like Chamberlain, and the domination of a few key media outlets. The West avoided a little war and got a big war instead.

My dream is this: one day history will write How the Blogosphere Saved the World. Blogs broaden the discussion that began with the shock of 9/11--and, yes, a lot of it is crap but so is much of the content of the legacy media or academe. I don't want to debate the Iraq war again, but nothing except blogs serve those who might want to consider that pre-emption can be credible foreign policy and who look for answers in history.

I am eager for the good reporting of events from Iraq just as I eagerly await the day when my local news station focuses on how many people don't live in drug infested neighborhoods, don't get raped and don't get killed. If they want "good news" reported out of Iraq they should see to it that fewer people get blown up, killed or kidnapped.

menlo, you think that blog roll would represent the people's house, or just the ones that vote in the current resident, whover he or she may be at the time? I think when the government starts endoring particular media outlets, we call that propaganda. I can't see that that would be good for the party in power, or the loyal opposition.

Sorry, Chris. Let everyone know that Chris isn't a crank and didn't do anything wrong. I just have a preference for not giving publicty to some things, and he hit on one of them. I've deleted other comments on the same standard. Please don't take it personally.

Bruce,could you post a link to those "good news about Iraq" CD's/videos when they appear? I am looking. It shouldn't be too hard for them to be made available given the importance of the topic,and the number of people who are hungry for the good news.

Sorry about all the deletions - when I preview, my links are all laid out all nice and pretty. Then when I publish it goes haywire. So, forget the links.

Quietnorth: If you are truly interested, here are a few web sites.

These aren't the videos you're looking for. They are, however, exactly the types of places where you'll find the videos, interviews and documentaries that document the progress and the good news but never quite seem to make it to the mainstream press.

There are sites specifically focused on good news from the war front:http://goodnewsfromthefront.com/>- These guys took over after Arthur Chrenkoff hung up his hat.

http://www.kmax.ws/b/goodnewsiniraq.htm

http://www.windsofchange.net/

There are sites written by people in Iraq where you'll find a mix of the good and bad:http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com

Jennifer,I hope the video from Junkyard Dog isn't representative. A few clips of concrete being poured, without context or identification? It is hard to "fact check" that. My guess is that you could get a clip of concrete being poured in any failed state in the world. There is a lot of blogging going on in Iraq, and I do recommend both soldier's blogs and blogs from people who live there. I focus not on the opinions of the bloggers, but just on the first person, day to day things they are doing.